Methodology of calculation the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments of mudflows (within Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic)

Abstract

The main natural factors that have a significant impact on the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments are identified. The most universal of these factors is the maximum water flow rate, which creates an opportunity for the formation and development of mudflow processes, as well as determines the power of the mudflow. As a rule, the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments increases with increasing catchment area. At the same time, the larger the size of a river basin is, the greater the impact of various physical and geographical factors. Such complex factors include: Qmax – the maximum water flow rate, φ – the coefficient of natural over regulation of rivers, ϒ – the index of ploughness, Ψ – the forest cover index, İ – the slope of the catchment area. These factors are closely interrelated and interdependent, as mudflows are, to a certain extent, a mirror reflecting the influence of the main natural and anthropogenic factors. It seems to us that of the above factors determining the general background, the most universal ones are singled out for calculating the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments. We believe that there should also be a link between the values of the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments and the set of parameters that more clearly reflect the influence of natural factors. In this regard, in individual basins of any territory mudflows appear with different capacity. The relationships between the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments and the complex of natural factors reflect hydrological and geological-geomorphological conditions. Horizontal and vertical differentiation of mountain slopes with different exposures allowed us to identify this dependence in the form of 3 equations. The first two equations characterize the increase of maximum flow of suspended sediments in watershed and plowed slopes that lead to the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments. But forest cover and the coefficient of rivers flood natural overregulation lead to the lowest flow rate of suspended sediments. The third equation is characterized by the largest increase in water flow rate and in the average height of the catchment, which increases the maximum flow rate of suspended sediments, and the catchment area and the natural over regulation of rivers leads to its reduce.